Washington's Nigel Williams-Goss (5) and Oregon State's Angus Brandt stand back-to-back as they position for a rebound during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Beavers blow 12-point lead in loss to Huskies

SEATTLE — With Washington’s top scorer C.J. Wilcox bottled up by Oregon State’s aggressive defense, Nigel Williams-Goss took over with one of the best performances by a freshman in UW history.

Williams-Goss scored a career-high 32 points as Washington rallied from 12 points down in the second half to beat Oregon State 87-81 on Saturday.

Williams-Goss’ point total was the most by a freshman at Washington since the NCAA made freshmen eligible in 1972 and the most scored by any Husky this season.

“I think that’s probably one of the best freshman performances we’ve seen in this building,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. “He was just very, very efficient offensively and defensively.”

Williams-Goss was 10 for 15 from the field, including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, and 9 for 10 on free throws. He also added five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

“We’re a really unselfish team and we want everyone to play well, and when someone has a hot hand we feed them,” Williams-Goss said. “But at the same time, we try to play together no matter what so it was just a really good team effort.”

Wilcox added 14 points to pass the 1,700 career-point milestone and move into No. 7 on the school’s all-time scoring list despite being held in check most of the game as the Beavers had 6-foot-10 forward Eric Moreland covering the 6-5 guard.

The Beavers’ focus on Wilcox meant Williams-Goss could often get into the lane for his scoring opportunities.

“When coach and I were watching the film yesterday, we called it the ‘C.J. effect,’ ” Williams-Goss said. “When he comes off screens, two guys jump at him and it opens up everyone on the floor, not just me. When you play with such a prolific scorer like C.J., it’s much easier.”

Washington (13-8, 5-3 Pac-12) trailed by 12 points with 18 minutes to go before taking control with a big run midway through the second half. The Huskies led by 11 with less than four minutes to play, but Oregon State (11-8, 3-4) cut it to 78-75 with a minute to go.

Williams-Goss put the game mostly out of reach when he converted the three-point play with 44.8 seconds left, and Washington closed the game by making six free throws in the final 32 seconds.

Roberto Nelson led the Beavers with 31 points, and Devon Collier had 23 points and six rebounds.

Nelson came into the game as the Pac-12’s top scorer with 21.7 points a game, and Wilcox was No. 2 at 19.9. In the battle between the two, Nelson held the upper hand except during the Huskies’ crucial run.

Nelson had seven points before Wilcox got off his first shot more than 10 minutes into the game, and Wilcox didn’t score until four minutes later. At halftime Nelson had scored 15 of OSU’s 38 points and Wilcox managed just four, spending the final minutes of the half on the bench after picking up his second foul.

The Huskies went on a 14-2 run — including Wilcox’s first eight points of the half — to go ahead 59-55, and pushed the lead to 10 points, 68-58, with seven minutes left in the half.

In other games Saturday:

No. 2 Syracuse 64, Miami 52: CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Syracuse held Miami without a basket for 7½ minutes down the stretch and made eight consecutive free throws in the final minute to remain unbeaten.

No. 21 Michigan 80, No. 3 Michigan State 75: EAST LANSING, Mich. — Nik Stauskas made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:12 left and finished with 19 points and freshman Derrick Walton Jr. scored a season-high 19, lifting Michigan to a win over Michigan State to remain the only Big Ten team without a conference loss.

No. 7 San Diego State 74, Utah State 69: LOGAN, Utah — Xavier Thames scored 31 points, including 10 in overtime, and San Diego State held off pesky Utah State for its 17th straight victory.

No. 8 Kansas 91, TCU 69: FORT WORTH, Texas — Andrew Wiggins scored 19 of his career-high 27 points in the first half and Kansas never gave TCU a shot at a repeat of last year’s huge upset, beating the Horned Frogs.

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